Sammy Watkins gives Bills a mild scare

Teams that play in the Hall of Fame game get to open camp a week or so earlier than most other teams. Which gives the teams that play in the Hall of Fame game extra practice time.

Which, when coming before other teams have opened camp, makes those teams the center of media attention. Which, when one of their hottest young players gets injured, sets Twitter ablaze.

On Monday, Bills rookie receiver Sammy Watkins, based on simultaneous tweets from roughly a dozen or more media accounts, caught a ball in traffic and emerged with an injury. Some said he was dazed. Others said he appeared to have a cut on his forehead or eye.

After practice, coach Doug Marrone told reporters that Watkins had been poked in the eye. It’s one of the risks of football practice, especially when a guy is willing to go over the middle.

“He shows that,” Marrone said regarding Watkins’ fearlessness. “He’s made a very good career for himself, in college, being able to go over the middle. That’s always a big test when you get to this level to make sure you can come over the middle. He’s a fearless player and, again, at the same time you have to be smart when you do that.”

Well fortunately he’s ok, but “traffic”? Any chance we can get some names and a video clip of this “accident” or excessive display of fearlessness? Sometimes the fans get lucky and get to see what happened, but this is probably not one of those times.

Falcons won they division two years ago and will be in the stiffs this year. So pretty good, if the falcons mortgaged the future how have the browns done since the received all the benefits of the falcons wrong move.

I’m not too impressed with Watkins. He didn’t do much in college and then all of a sudden after the combine he becomes all hype, mainly based of a few highlights. Take away those few highlights and he really didn’t do jack. We’ll see if he can live up to the hype in the NFL.

Future????.. One 1st round pick???…. Can’t compare the Falcons, who gave up like 5 picks, to the Bills giving up ONE future pick….and last time I checked Julio Jones was a Top 3 Overall WR b4 he got hurt last year…and he’s still a Top 5 WR????…. Good Point tho…

Just wait until he gets matched up against Ike Taylor during the joint training camp with the Steelers. With how that guy “covers” wide receivers, which is something that resembles a running bear hug, he will be lucky to walk away without excessive bumps and bruises.

The kid is going to be special if he stays healthy. The play he was poked in the eye on the pass was intended for someone else, it was tipped and he came down with it in a crowd of three defenders and held on to the ball even though he was poked in the eye. Sat out one series and went back in like nothing was wrong. Only reason anyone knows about this at all, is that ESPN was there at Bills camp yesterday.

That bowl game against the Ohio State sticks in my mind as one of the most dominant performances I have ever seen. He is going to make EJ Manuel look really good.

ejm845 says:Jul 22, 2014 8:56 AM

it doesn’t matter when you have a projected 4th round pic as your starting QB season is already over for bills 5 and 11 at best

I’m not too impressed with Watkins. He didn’t do much in college and then all of a sudden after the combine he becomes all hype, mainly based of a few highlights. Take away those few highlights and he really didn’t do jack. We’ll see if he can live up to the hype in the NFL.
_________________________________
Didn’t do much in college? What planet are you from?

Mortgage your draft future on a WR? Ask the Falcons how that worked out..

———————————————

Mortgage your draft future on the later and future picks you received for that pro-bowl receiver? Ask the Browns how that worked out..

Spoiler alert: it didn’t work.

——————————-

Might want to check your stats again because your spoiler is pretty inaccurate…. The Julio Jones trade was one of the dumbest moves in recent draft history. The Falcons biggest hole was on DEFENSE so they send loads of future draft picks away for a wide receiver. Not only did the team eventually get worse as their defensive problems just escalated but they had to watch as the team they traded with (Cleveland) got similar production out of the receiver they eventually took that year with one of the picks they got from Atlanta (Greg Little who was second in the league in catches for rookies that year with Cincy’s AJ Green being first) and then watched as they take arguably a BETTER receiver in the second round of the supplemental draft the next year (Josh Gordon). That’s the football equivalent of thinking you got something on sale for only $10,000 because the store clerk told you it’s normally worth double that just for it to get marked down to $.75 the next day.

We won’t even get into the part where the other picks the Falcons gave Cleveland turned into one of the best defensive tackles in the league his rookie year (Phil Taylor) and in 2012 a productive Trent Richardson (before he sucked in Indy) which then turned into Johnny Manziel.

Watkins to the Bills was a smarter gamble as unlike with the Falcons they filled a major need with it. Whether it works out is up to the coaching staff but as far as GM decisions it’s a good call unlike the Julio Jones debacle.

iloveagoodnap says:Jul 22, 2014 10:25 AM

pats777 says:
Jul 21, 2014 8:56 PM
Mortgage your draft future on a WR? Ask the Falcons how that worked out..
………………………….
Julio Jones is widely regarded at the 3rd best WR in the league. The Faclons meanwhile were a bust last year long before Julio got hurt. This was coming off the heels of being a breath away from the Superbowl. Many, with real football knowledge, agree they will be back on track this year.

So, I’m not sure what your point is, or if you really have one at all. Because I’m pretty sure anyone on the Falcons would tell you they are pretty happy to have Julio Jones on their team.

pftfan says:Jul 22, 2014 10:42 AM

I’m sorry, I missed the part in his body of work where EJ Manuel resembled anything close to Matt Ryan.

peepeetoucher says:Jul 22, 2014 10:55 AM

Lets see if he still wants to go across the middle when they play the Jets. Calvin Pryor (aka Louisville Slugger) is going to do a lot more than poke his eye out.